Dracula dip. October 12, 2009

Silence Dogood here. Recycling the local newspaper, I came on a notice for the Dracula Dip Contest at the Easton, PA Garlic Festival on October 3rd. Now, how could anyone resist that, especially a bigtime Christopher Lee fan like yours truly?

Rats, we’d missed the festival, and sadly, the paper supplied no recipes. And while admittedly reluctant to go on a website with the motto “Eat, Drink, & Stink,” I just had to see if the winning recipe was listed. After all, what could be more appropriate for our Hallowe’en festivities than Dracula Dip?! Well, the official website had a great photo of Bela Lugosi as the Count, but no recipes. I was forced to turn to my old friend Google to see what “Dracula Dip” turned up. Here are a couple of promising dips that you vampire fans (or those trying to ward off vampire attacks) can try:

Anti Dracula Garlic Cheese Dip

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 cup real mayonnaise, as in Hellman’s

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon parsley, minced

7-8 big, fat fresh garlic cloves, minced, or more to taste

3 tablespoons fresh green onions (scallions), chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and chill for at least an hour or overnight to give the flavors time to intensify. Serve with veggies, crackers, bread, or your favorite. [Note from Silence: From www.grouprecipes.com.]

Dracula’s Garlic Dip

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature

1/4 cup real mayonnaise, as in Hellman’s

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons dill weed

1/4 rap. each celery seed, paprika, and parsley

2-3 cloves fresh garlic, minced

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. [Note from Silence: This recipe is from Cooks.com. I have no idea what a “rap.” is.]

Hypnotizing Squash Dip

This one’s from Canadian Living.com. I (Silence) like it because it’s creative and combines all the flavors of the harvest season, but mercy, it’s a lot of work for a dip. See what you think! As they say, “Keep Dracula at bay with this mesmerizing garlic-packed dip. Surround it with crispy ‘bat wings’ (blue corn tortilla chips).” Makes 3 cups.

1 small butternut squash (about 2 pounds)

5 cloves garlic (unpeeled)

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Pinch ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon basil pesto

Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or grease; set aside. Cut squash in half lengthwise; scrape out seeds and membranes. Brush cut sides and garlic with olive oil. Arrange squash, cut sides down, and garlic on prepared pan. Bake in 350-degree F. oven until tender, 45-55 minutes. Let cool slightly. Scrape squash pulp into a food processor; squeeze garlic pulp over the top, discarding skins. Add Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons of the sour cream, and the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Puree until smooth. Spoon into a shallow serving bowl, smoothing the top. If making ahead, you can cover and refrigerate this for up to 2 days. When ready to serve: In a small bowl, blend remaining sour cream with pesto. Using a small piping bag fitted with a plain tip and starting at the center, pipe into a spiral on the dip. (You can use a small resealable plastic bag with a corner snipped off if you don’t have a piping bag.)

Well, it’s a shame that the recipes of the official Dracula Dip Contest winner and runners-up weren’t listed. The three dips I’ve listed are all interesting, but the last one’s way too complicated for my taste and I can’t help but think I could improve on the first two. So here’s my attempt at Dracula Dip. You’ll note that mine includes shredded cheese because vampires are inherently cheesy, and hot sauce because, let’s face it, a good vampire is always hot!

Dracula Dip (Silence Movie Version)

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened

1/2-2/3 cup sour cream

4-6 large cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 cup shredded sharp white Cheddar cheese

3 green onions (scallions), chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste (we like RealSalt, or try Trocamare)

generous splash hot sauce (we like Pickapeppa or Tabasco Chipotle)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (for intrigue)

1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin puree (not pie pumpkin), optional

Stir or beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Add 1/2 cup sour cream, stirring in more if needed to reach your preferred dipping consistency. Stir in remaining ingredients (except pumpkin puree), mixing well to blend. The cheese, garlic, and green onions will give the dip body; it’s not supposed to be smooth (unlike Dracula). But it will definitely have a bite! Using a teaspoon, swirl in the pumpkin puree, if desired. Do not blend, let the orange of the pumpkin contrast with the pale yellow/green of the dip. Allow to rest for an hour before serving to give the flavors time to marry.

Serve with tortilla chips, pepper strips, carrot rounds, endive leaves, celery sticks, soft pretzels, breadsticks, Triscuits, or (especially fitting) the bat-shaped crackers I’ve seen recently in my grocery as a Hallowe’en special. Or make the dip in a mini-Crock Pot, heat it on low, and use it as a fondue-type dip for Pizza Hut-style soft bread sticks. But if you order the bread sticks (and possibly accompanying pizza) delivered, watch your delivery person carefully for any signs of a cape, an unusual pallor, or fangs.

Like this:

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Your version is far and away the best of that lot. Two days to make a dip is two days too much, IMHO! I love the idea of the swirled pumpkin too, and of course that makes it healthy, right? As for C. Lee, nice but cannot touch B. Lugosi for the sleaze factor. Black and white made it much scarier too.
Frances

Thanks, Frances! It would certainly be hard to beat Bela Lugosi’s performance for campiness. But for actual scariness, the old silent German version, “Nosferatu,” has to have had the creepiest-looking Dracula on record!

The recipes look good! I’m a big fan of garlic, in almost anything! I have to confess, I’ve never seen anything more than a few clips from the old Dracula movie…

Thanks, Dave! I actually think the stills of Bela Lugosi in character are the best part. I found the book tedious, and any movie that attempts a faithful protrayal of it, however good the actors, is a big snooze. I enjoy the “nontraditional” versions a lot more.

Those look great! We will be trying all of them (not all at once! That could probably stop a bullet.) Just linked you into my post. Hope that’s OK.

Thanks, Alan!!! You’ll have to let me know which one’s your favorite. The first person not only specified the big, fat cloves, but mentioned that s/he usually added a lot more when making it at home, so I suspect that recipe would get the Vampire Chaser Award! And many thanks for the link!

These are great recipes girl ! .. Leave it to a Canadian one to be so much work (not for me ! haha)
I wonder if there is anyone out there that has seen the original “Nosferatu” black and white, way before Lugosi (but he is a great one too !) .. I have seen it and it is scary .. turn out all the lights and have some popcorn and fudge on hand .. PERFECT !!! LOL

Thanks, Joy! And yes, I think that’s really the creepiest version of all. That guy looked like something that had been dead for quite a while! Um… did someone say FUDGE?!!

I’ve got the fudge (makin chocolate today, yesterday was lavender honey and butter pecan), but I must admit, I’m more of an Ann Rice fan rather than Bela Lugosi. Not saying I like the movies made from her books, but I did enjoy her books (you would need a truck load of fudge to get through them.) Maybe we would stick with something like Lost Boys. Modern Vamps, but not so complex that we might start liking them.

Tell me what you want, (depending on what I’m making on the day) I’ll get it in the mail. Right now we are regularly mailing butter pecan, chilli chocoloate, lemon chocolate, espresso dark choclolate, vanilla latte,peanut butter, and (untill we run out of fresh blooms) honey lavender. You can order a box or half box through the paypal link on my blog, or email me (roberts.ecofarm@gmail.com) for a mix. Not shipping vampires right now. They have to clean the basement first. They made quite a mess….

I just saw this comment now about the fudge .. Alan your samples sound WONDERFUL !! What about Maple Walnut ? … that espresso dark chocolate has me drooling here .. and this is hubby’s PC keyboard I’m messing up on !!
I wish I hadn’t read this now .. you are very naughty for driving me crazy!! hahaha
Joy : )
Hey I loved the series of the” Mayfair Witches”, starting with “The Witching Hour” by Ann Rice .. with the Celtic roots of that spirit .. now those were my favorites .. I hope you read them too !!